Ansible Automation Ansible for Network Automation

Question 1

What is the primary difference between Ansible's 'network_cli' and 'netconf' connection types for network devices?

Accepted Answer

network_cli connects via SSH and executes CLI commands; netconf connects via SSH port 830 using XML-based NETCONF protocol for structured data exchange

Answer

'network_cli' is SSH-based CLI automation; 'netconf' provides structured YANG-modeled data access via the NETCONF protocol on supported devices.

Question 2

In Ansible network automation, why is 'ansible_network_os' an important inventory variable?

Accepted Answer

It tells Ansible which network OS modules and connection plugins to use, determining how commands are formatted and sent to the device

Answer

'ansible_network_os' identifies the device OS type, enabling Ansible to use the correct connection plugin, modules, and command syntax for that platform.

Question 3

What does the 'cisco.ios.ios_command' module do and when should 'ios_config' be used instead?

Accepted Answer

ios_command runs show commands and captures output for analysis; ios_config is used to push configuration changes to the device

Answer

'ios_command' is for operational/show commands to gather data; 'ios_config' is for making configuration changes in a structured, idempotent way.

Question 4

What is a 'network facts module' in Ansible, and what information does 'ios_facts' typically return?

Accepted Answer

Facts modules gather structured device information (hostname, interfaces, routing, VLANS, version) and store it as Ansible variables

Answer

Network facts modules parse device output into structured Ansible variables, enabling condition-based automation without manual text parsing.

Question 5

What is the 'ansible.netcommon.cli_parse' module used for in network automation?

Accepted Answer

It parses raw CLI output from network devices into structured data using templates (TextFSM, TTP, or NTC templates)

Answer

'cli_parse' transforms unstructured CLI text output into structured data (lists/dicts) using parsing frameworks like TextFSM or TTP.

Ansible Automation Practice Test

Ansible Automation Practice Test

Ansible Automation Ansible for Network Automation